Approx. what is the percentage of heating is done by your pellets stove or pellet furnace **on the

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Approx. what is the percentage of heating is done by your pellets stove or pellet furnace


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kinsmanstoves

Minister of Fire
Approx. what percent of your heating is done by pellets stove or furnace? I would like to use this info for an article I will be running in a small local paper and to update my "Pellet 101" on my website.
 
I went with 90%... That's my plan anyway. There should be a Pellet Pig membership quota number assigned to this statistic....
 
40 Gal @ 2.74=$109.60 16.5%
3 Ton pellets 553.00 83.5%
Total last year $662.60
I suppose comparing dollars spent is an objective measure.
I do not know how include my estimate of the equivalent of heating 20 days on wood.
 
I would say 60% of my heating is done by pellets. I have two zones in my single level home. The zone where the stove is never kicks on but the second zone where bed rooms are is entirely heated by oil.
 
100% house has baseboard electric and i do not want to contemplate what it would cost me to heat with it. 2 tons of pellets max for the season on average , may be a bit more this year as we are colder sooner than we have been in the past several years
 
99% at least that's my plan.
Started the propane furnace twice for 10 minutes each time just to make sure it's working properly
 
My pellet stove heats 820 sq.ft. at one end of the house (ranch style) and the oil burner heats 1330 sq.ft. and I used 49 gallons of fuel oil in the past 3 months. So 40% pellet heat for me.

Steve
 
I answered 90% only because we use the furnace while away for the weekend. If it weren't for the times we are gone for more than a day it would be 100%.
 
this year I will be using up my 300 gal of free oil from work first, then my pellets, next year 100% pellets with the furnace for back up only.
 
I said 70% heat kicks on once in a while, But there are times I would like the up stairs bedrooms a little warmer, like in the morning when I get out of the shower,
 
My natural gas bill last month was under $11.00 so I went with 100%...
 
I would say 90%. I have the oil programmed to come on one time before I get up in the morning so it is warm when I get up (temp is set for 62 all night) and again right before I get home from work (again, one shot of oil). I have the pellet stove in basement (insulated) and so it takes awhile to equalize heat to upstairs so by using a little oil, it works real good. There is never more than a 1 degree difference between downstairs and upstairs. Liking it!!
 
90%, my oil heat is just a back up for the stove.
 
I put down 90% in the poll but is closer to 97-99%.
I have a 6 ft section of baseboard heat I fabricated into a criss-cross
pattern in front of a box fan set up in the basement(3rd zone) to keep the area at 60. It does not run that often.
The first and second floor are heated by the pellet stove. (So Far)

The oil tank is still around 3/4 full. Used for hot water and the basement heat.
Warm and happy with the investment we made!!
 
I estimated 80% but this is my first season doing this and as the temperature fluctuates (mainly when it goes low) it may be less. I don't think the stove will heat the upstairs which will require oil when my daughters are home from college. 27 outside this morning and still running the Big E on 1 - 71 inside. Oil heat is on upstairs as there are 4 guests up there but not sure how much the oil has been on.
 
This is the first year with the Harman but looks like we should be able to stay close to 100%. Holding the main rooms around 70 we are near a ton burnt so far. Heating around 1,300 sq ft with little or no insulation in a 90+ year old home. But the 500 gallon propane tank is still 65%, after just heating the water, rather than needing refilled at $2.70 gallon.
 
I went with 90%, but I only had to run the furnace to warm up the house 3 times last winter (outside temp in the morning below 10 degrees. at that temperature we drop to 66 - 68 degrees with just the pellet stove). Unfortunately, my hot water is still on the furnace, however, so I'm still burning about 200 gallons of oil a year. Very inefficient.

mark
 
I went 70%, but the oil burner hasn't run yet. On sunny days usually shut the pellets down in the morning, house stays warm all day, give it a cleaning in the afternoon, fire it back up. When the real cold gets here, plan to be back up to 90% or so, solar only does so much. Should do a 1-2 hour run with the oil once a month or so just to make sure it's there, but hate to.
 
Just wanted to bump this up becuse I have to work/upgrade on the article for a deadline on Monday. As most of you can tell I am not an English major or minor for what it is worth.

This is a PDF of what I have so far. If someone would like to take a peek and make comments or modify anything please do so and email (not post here) I would like that very much. email is [email protected]

http://kinsmanstoves.com/pdf/pelletstoves101.pdf

Thanks
Eric
 
Eric,
When you're article is published be sure to post it here, I'm sure a lot of folks will be interested in reading the finished product.
What newspaper will it run in?
 
Right now we are at 100%. My propane tank is at 30% and I am holding out until propane comes down. It looks like it is till about $2.95 per gal.

They say they are still high because they are getting rid of the inventory that they bought over the summer. Whatever!!!
 
I went with 100% but that's not strictly true since we do have two oil filled radiators that we use sometimes in the coldest rooms to help the stove out. I also use those plus either a ceramic heater or the fire place to keep the house warm when I need to shut down the stove for cleaning.
 
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